Various machines for cutting, grinding and fracturing hard earth formations and rock during excavations (e.g. trimming or planing floor faces, rock side faces, trenching and general building footing detailing) are known in the prior art. Such machines can be removable mounted on the free end of an articulated arm of a tracked or conventionally wheeled excavator and the like.
Conventional grinding or cutting heads typically have a motor which is mounted separately from the tool on the excavator arm, and a gear train is used to transmit torque to the grinding wheels which are rotatably supported at a pedestal or housing bolted to a mounting base member at the linkage arm end remote from the drive. This arrangement considerably limits the grinding head positioning during operation.
Australian patent no. 762584 discloses a grinding head that incorporates the drive. By incorporating the drive into the head, there is no need for an additional gear train between the drive motor and the grinding drums when mounted and the grinding head with drive therefore offers improved flexibility.
The present invention provides an improvement of the invention disclosed in Australian patent no. 762584.